A & N's Book Release with 20% of sales to childhood cancer charity this summer

Time with A & N is branching out to include its first A & N Publications book release with Moms, Monsters, Media & Margaritas. I am also working on  an upcoming site called the PACI Fund Project (Parents Against Childhood Illnesses), which I'm creating in hopes of other small businesses like A & N Publications, partnering together to help raise awareness and funds for charities for various childhood illnesses and diseases. For this summer 20% of the sales of the book, which is about 50% of what I will see from each book sale, will go towards a hometown charity of mine called the I-ROK Foundation, which is a foundation for childhood cancer.

                Shortly after I started Time with A & N I became aware of two things. First, that many of my fellow teachers have secondary sales businesses. Second, many of the new bloggers I met and started networking with had a product they promoted that contributed to their blogging income. Even though I considered getting into some product sales as the business aspect of blogging, it just didn’t seem like a good fit. Even though I'm going to have to put my sales and business skills to work and to the test here, my feelings are even if this doesn't really meet my hopeful expectations I don't have anything to lose so why not just give it a try and see what happens.

          I decided I would write, publish, and sell my own book as the product and brand of Time with A & N. It is a humorous and inspirational look at modern day motherhood in our 21^st Century digital world. Our children are not only the first to grow up in this new digital age, but we are the first to enter motherhood in this new age. This is not a how to or advice book about motherhood; it is not going to tell you how to mother or what type of mother you should be. Much of what you come to expect from the posts on A & N you will find in this book with chapters about letting supermom go, the chaos of trying to balance it all, the monster of mommy guilt, the media frenzy of the mommy wars, embracing imperfection in ourselves and our children, the mother to do list of the bedroom with a look at marriage after motherhood, taking time for ourselves and time to just be mommy, a journey to the girl we were to the woman we become in motherhood, and last a look at the myth of happily ever after. It’s a book you don’t have to read front to back but can read at your leisure and return to your favorite chapters that resonate with you. It is currently for sale in print for $10 and will also be available for sale as an ebook for $4.99 soon.   

Nate and I use to try to give a small monthly donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Research. As a middle class educator in our struggling economy with the constantly increasing expenses of today, unfortunately, once we had children of our own my husband and I quit donating the money. It was very little to begin with, but I always told myself one day I would go back to donating money to them. This is where the PACI part of this A & N business project comes in. Even though I've always wanted to be able to donate to children's charities again, my plan for how I plan to give back is with my readers in mind. I want to work for my readers here.  Even though St. Jude’s is a great organization, I didn’t want to commit to one charity, and I wanted my readers to be a part of this. Even though it may not be much, I like to think any little that can be given is helpful as research and expenses for any childhood illnesses are underfunded. Just as many of you are prayer warriors for various pages, there are several families that I follow on their journey through heroic battles with a variety of childhood illnesses and diseases. These families have inspired me in so many ways, and hopefully at some point I'll be able to donate to each of them that have become dear to my own heart.

             My largest readership at the moment comes from back home in my hometown of Excelsior Springs, MO, and this is an amazing community that really comes to together to support one another. Even though I never directly asked any of them about their charity of choice I’m hoping I’m correct in suggesting that the donation from book sales from now until July 31 or August 31 will be donated to Kori Quinn’s I ROK Foundation. Kori Quinn was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 13 and fought it for over five years before she passed away on February 11, 2014. During this time she created the I-ROK Foundation to raise awareness and money for childhood cancer. She was an amazing young woman that inspired all those that knew her. I unfortunately never had the privilege of meeting her personally, but I followed her journey online and just like others was always inspired by her bravery, her compassion, and her dedication to always inspire and teach those around her even as she fought for her life. 

The PACI Fund Project is kind of in limbo as I wait to see if and how many others wish to join this small business campaign to raise money and awareness for their community charities. I have heard and am waiting to hear from a few others in my hometown about also donating money over a portion of this summer. The hope is on the PACI website I would share information, links, and write features to raise awareness for the charities. I would also advertise and promote any other businesses that also agree  to donate money to any of the particular charities.  But if and where this site takes off to is really dependent on current and hopeful future readers. I hope to keep readers informed of charities and the amount of money donated to them on the PACI website.

I want to raise money and awareness for charities my readers and fellow blog community members care about so please send me your suggestions at glennbabies@gmail.com. If you are a small business owner, writer or blogger, and would like to see how you can be a part of the PACI project again please email me. I look forward to working together with my readers, friends, and the parenting blog community. You can buy your print copy of Moms, Monsters, Media & Margaritas for $10.00 here. 

I cannot say thank you enough to readers and my friends and family that have supported me in my pursuit of this new goal. This is my pay it forward campaign and I hope you stick along for the ride to see how it all unfolds.

I hope you enjoy the book. Buy your print copy now here. Or if you are an electronic book type person it's available in the ebook format for $4.99 here. The nice thing about the ebook is for just $5 you get the book and $2 of that still goes to the childhood cancer charity so get your copy today!